About Standard and Custom events
Events are actions taken on your website, like adding an item to a cart or making a purchase. Events can result from a paid TikTok ad or organically (unpaid). Integration methods like Events API and the TikTok Pixel share events with TikTok to help measure campaign performance, optimize ad delivery, and build marketing audiences.
Types of events
There are two types of events on TikTok:
Standard events: Actions with predefined names created by TikTok used for reporting, optimizing conversions, and building audiences. Standard events are supported across all TikTok Integration tools. Learn more about supported standard events.
Custom events: Actions that TikTok partners can define themselves. You can set up custom events with Event Builder in Events Manager or directly via the Pixel and Web Events API. Custom events are available for reporting and audience creation purposes. Optimization is not supported at this time.
Note: To comply with TikTok's data terms and policies, and to protect your user's privacy, do not send TikTok any sensitive data about visitors on your site when setting up events. You are responsible for ensuring all event labels are created in accordance with TikTok's Advertising Policies, Anti Discrimination Policy, and Housing, Employment and Credit Policy. Events names are subject to review and may be removed if non-compliant.
Recommendations
Create an event for each step along the customer's user journey of your site to optimize for events that matter most to your business, from viewing product details to completing a purchase. Learn more about how to manage and understand your events in Events Manager.
Add the same events for both the TikTok Pixel and Events API to maximize your ad performance. Make sure you set up deduplication via event ID to avoid over-reporting of web events. Learn more about event deduplication.
When you set up a custom event, make sure it does not have the same name as one of TikTok's predefined standard events or reserved events. Learn more about reserved events.
Custom events must adhere to the following requirements:
Requirement | Details |
Character Limit | Custom event names should not exceed 50 characters. |
Format | Only alphabetic letters, Arabic numerals, underscores, and dashes are accepted. |
Special Rule | Custom event names must start with an alphabetic letter and cannot end with a space. |
Use Case
Custom events should only be used in instances where TikTok's standard event list does not meet your needs. Some examples of acceptable custom event categories are:
Labels that reflect conventional consumer activity, like signing up for a free trial. You may want to use a custom event label, "StartFreeTrial".
Labels that reflect conventional merchant activity, like shipping a product. This is different from a similar standard event like "Place an Order", so you may want to use a custom event label, "ProductShipped".
Example website code with standard or custom events added:
